Ivory towers

Great novels rarely make great movies, but for half a century one director has been showing all the others how it’s done. James Ivory has worked his magic on all sorts of authors, from Kazuo Ishiguro to Henry James, and this week the finest of all his adaptations returns to the big screen. ‘A film that’s almost two and a half hours long, non-stop talking, set in the Edwardian era — who would have thought that would be such a huge success?’ says Ivory, on the phone from his home in upstate New York. Yet somehow, this taciturn director turned a wordy novel by E.M. Forster into a gripping drama. How did he do it? By creating the ideal setting, meticulous in every detail, then stepping back and giving his creative colleagues room to breathe.

Howards End is an object lesson in directing without vanity. Ivory’s artistry is invisible — he casts his spells behind the scenes.